Chapter One
" 'God's in His Heaven, all's right with the world,' whispered Anne softly." I closed the book and looked at the front cover. A little girl with red hair and shining grey eyes stared back at me, a picture I had long wanted to resemble. The cover name Anne of Green Gables was written grandly across the top. I sighed and put the book back on the shelf. Taking down a slip of paper, I took out a pencil and checked a dash on it, signifying that I had just the book for the fifth time. It was the most out of the entire series, except for the third: Anne of the Island, my favorite. I couldn't even remember how many times I had read that one.
In a sentence, I consider myself the biggest fan of Miss Anne Shirley. How many long hours had I sat at my window, wishing it was real and I didn't have to live in the stupid present with cars and DVD players and rap. Why did I have to live in the year 2002 where there was no innocent romance anymore and nobody could cheer themselves up by simply looking at the mere beauty in nature around them?
Another sigh and I climbed off my bed and sat down at my desk to finish my algebra homework. Trying to be clever, I thought, "There's no scope for imagination in algebra."
"Dinner, Ann!" I heard my mother call up the stairs. Getting up from my chair, I grumbled, thinking there was no scope for imagination in meatloaf either. *****************************
"Morning you guys," I smiled at Sara and Mell at our usual table in the high school library. They returned my greeting and I pulled up a chair to join them.
"It's Friday, isn't it? Of course I forgot the vocabulary quiz for English and I have Civics first. But it'll be a good day." I brushed my brown hair away from my face. "What are you studying for today, Sara?"
"Biology. I had dance team till really late last night and I didn't have time to study."
Mell sat drawing on her notepad.
"I actually did my math homework last night, so I have more time to listen to Weezer."
Sara and I laughed. Mell put down her pencil for a moment to get out her headphones from her backpack.
The first bell rang a few minutes later and I started off down the stairs, mumbling complaints about Civics class.
The day passed slowly and finally it was lunch, second to last period. I pulled out my Anne book, elapsing into silence and staring into space, dreaming of clover fields and wild flowers and Lover's Lane.
"Hey," a hand waved in front of my face. A tall boy was looking skeptically at me with arched eyebrows.
"Sorry, hey Mike," the sophomore sat at the bench for a minute.
"Whatcha readin'?" He yanked my precious book out of my grasp and looked at it.
"Anne of the Island," I answered, trying to grab the book back.
"It looks long and boring," he replied, throwing the book on the table, "I don't like to read."
"That's obvious," I rolled my eyes and he left, joining his other friends in the lunch line. Again I began to daydream, staring after him, not really looking at him at all, but through him to an invisible world.
"Hey Piano Ann!" Mell arrived, carrying a tray of food.
"Hi Mell," giggling at the sound of my nickname.
Lunch passed too quickly it seemed. It was raining steadily when I got home and the promise of a late fall thunderstorm hung in the air.
Sure enough, thunder boomed and lightening cracked across the sky, illuminating my room. The wind whistled from somewhere, and I got up from reading to investigate, carrying my Anne book with me.
The window was stuck next to my desk and I couldn't bring it down.
"Come on stupid window," I muttered frustrated, pushing with all my might. It was an old window and my parents were in the process of putting in new screens. Right now, if you opened the window, you'd come right out to open air.
I got an idea and pushed the window up instead of down to see if that would loosen it. It didn't help.
"Oh, great," I clapped my hand to my forehand in anger, "this is just great."
I stuck my head halfway out into the rain with the book in between my lips and pulled with both hands on the window. A bolt of lightening made me jump and my book fell from my mouth and out into the backyard.
Using some colorful language, I rushed downstairs to grab a raincoat and boots to put on over my jeans and sweater. I flung open the side door and ran down the porch steps to the backyard.
It was really dark and the trees were very eerie. I had grabbed a flashlight from the closet, and it only reached a few feet ahead of me. The wind howled over the roof of the house and the thunder was so loud I thought my eardrums would explode.
I searched, breathlessly scolding myself. How could you do that? You're so stupid! That was your favorite book! I could hear the tree creaking overhead. We could always find dead fallen branches after every storm because the elm tree is very old. I hurried around even faster.
What happened next was the most amazing thing that had ever happened to me, but wasn't very clear in memory. Before I had time to duck, a giant tree bough came tumbling down and everything went black.
" 'God's in His Heaven, all's right with the world,' whispered Anne softly." I closed the book and looked at the front cover. A little girl with red hair and shining grey eyes stared back at me, a picture I had long wanted to resemble. The cover name Anne of Green Gables was written grandly across the top. I sighed and put the book back on the shelf. Taking down a slip of paper, I took out a pencil and checked a dash on it, signifying that I had just the book for the fifth time. It was the most out of the entire series, except for the third: Anne of the Island, my favorite. I couldn't even remember how many times I had read that one.
In a sentence, I consider myself the biggest fan of Miss Anne Shirley. How many long hours had I sat at my window, wishing it was real and I didn't have to live in the stupid present with cars and DVD players and rap. Why did I have to live in the year 2002 where there was no innocent romance anymore and nobody could cheer themselves up by simply looking at the mere beauty in nature around them?
Another sigh and I climbed off my bed and sat down at my desk to finish my algebra homework. Trying to be clever, I thought, "There's no scope for imagination in algebra."
"Dinner, Ann!" I heard my mother call up the stairs. Getting up from my chair, I grumbled, thinking there was no scope for imagination in meatloaf either. *****************************
"Morning you guys," I smiled at Sara and Mell at our usual table in the high school library. They returned my greeting and I pulled up a chair to join them.
"It's Friday, isn't it? Of course I forgot the vocabulary quiz for English and I have Civics first. But it'll be a good day." I brushed my brown hair away from my face. "What are you studying for today, Sara?"
"Biology. I had dance team till really late last night and I didn't have time to study."
Mell sat drawing on her notepad.
"I actually did my math homework last night, so I have more time to listen to Weezer."
Sara and I laughed. Mell put down her pencil for a moment to get out her headphones from her backpack.
The first bell rang a few minutes later and I started off down the stairs, mumbling complaints about Civics class.
The day passed slowly and finally it was lunch, second to last period. I pulled out my Anne book, elapsing into silence and staring into space, dreaming of clover fields and wild flowers and Lover's Lane.
"Hey," a hand waved in front of my face. A tall boy was looking skeptically at me with arched eyebrows.
"Sorry, hey Mike," the sophomore sat at the bench for a minute.
"Whatcha readin'?" He yanked my precious book out of my grasp and looked at it.
"Anne of the Island," I answered, trying to grab the book back.
"It looks long and boring," he replied, throwing the book on the table, "I don't like to read."
"That's obvious," I rolled my eyes and he left, joining his other friends in the lunch line. Again I began to daydream, staring after him, not really looking at him at all, but through him to an invisible world.
"Hey Piano Ann!" Mell arrived, carrying a tray of food.
"Hi Mell," giggling at the sound of my nickname.
Lunch passed too quickly it seemed. It was raining steadily when I got home and the promise of a late fall thunderstorm hung in the air.
Sure enough, thunder boomed and lightening cracked across the sky, illuminating my room. The wind whistled from somewhere, and I got up from reading to investigate, carrying my Anne book with me.
The window was stuck next to my desk and I couldn't bring it down.
"Come on stupid window," I muttered frustrated, pushing with all my might. It was an old window and my parents were in the process of putting in new screens. Right now, if you opened the window, you'd come right out to open air.
I got an idea and pushed the window up instead of down to see if that would loosen it. It didn't help.
"Oh, great," I clapped my hand to my forehand in anger, "this is just great."
I stuck my head halfway out into the rain with the book in between my lips and pulled with both hands on the window. A bolt of lightening made me jump and my book fell from my mouth and out into the backyard.
Using some colorful language, I rushed downstairs to grab a raincoat and boots to put on over my jeans and sweater. I flung open the side door and ran down the porch steps to the backyard.
It was really dark and the trees were very eerie. I had grabbed a flashlight from the closet, and it only reached a few feet ahead of me. The wind howled over the roof of the house and the thunder was so loud I thought my eardrums would explode.
I searched, breathlessly scolding myself. How could you do that? You're so stupid! That was your favorite book! I could hear the tree creaking overhead. We could always find dead fallen branches after every storm because the elm tree is very old. I hurried around even faster.
What happened next was the most amazing thing that had ever happened to me, but wasn't very clear in memory. Before I had time to duck, a giant tree bough came tumbling down and everything went black.